Storm Front
by Anwedragon
Summary: Can one mortal's point of view save the world from an awakened god?


The charcature in this story are fictional. They are not based on any real life people. I do not have any claim to and of H.P. Lovecraft's works (thought that would be cool!) I hope you enjoy my rambling.

Anna paused in the parking lot of her work and turned her face towards the rain filled sky. She let the warm drops of storm caress her face for a moment before heading into the hobby shop awaiting her. The first bands of the hurricane were just pushing into the area, but the owner of the store would not close until the weather got much worse. The storm was only a category one; just a minor storm for the weather worn state of Mississippi. They were far enough in land that the storm wouldn't be more than a tropical depression when the brunt of it reached them.

Making sure the double doors shut behind her, Anna pushed the wetness from her arms and smiled at her boss behind the counter.

"Thank God you're here." The urgent tone in Janice's voice caused Anna to pause. Usually her boss was more laid back. It was one of the reasons she loved her job enough to brave a hurricane to be here.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked as she came around the counter to drop her purse under the register.

"Michael's been in a wreak." Janice explained as she gathered her things together. "They're taking him to the hospital. Can you handle this?" She knew the answer, but paused waiting for Anna to answer.

"Of course, go!" Anna waved the worried woman on. "I got this. Call me when you can." Anna could read the relief in Janice's eyes as the older woman punched out of the system and practically ran for the door. "Be safe." Anna yelled. Janice waved in response as the door slid shut behind her. Anna took a deep breath to calm the worry from her mind and looked around at the empty shop. With the storm building outside, she didn't expect much from the day.

Grabbing the mop, Anna went to work pulling stacks of stuff away from the front windows. The wind had shifted and was starting to blow rain in against the glass. Usually this wouldn't matter, but Anna expected the strong winds to win out over the caulking and push the liquid through the cracks.

Anna had just finished stacking the last display up in the bottle shelves when a loud crack of thunder rocked the building scaring a scream from her. Her butt hit the floor as the lights died and the double glass doors blew open. Anna scrambled to her feet to quench the chaos at the open doors when a man stepped out of the rain to stand dripping on the mat.

The sight of this unexpected guest drove the breath from Anna's lungs and she stopped halfway up from the floor to stare at him. He was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Dressed in black jeans and a dark green t-shirt he could have been just any random customer, but there was something about him that make Anna's pulse jump. And it wasn't just the fact that he was gorgeous. His soaked shirt clung to a lean muscular frame that was every woman's wet dream. His inky black tresses fluttered damply around his head as a gust of wind whipped through the door. The water splattering across the tile pulled Anna's mind from the wonder that had walked in and back to where it should have been.

"Good day." She smiled and pushed her way off the floor to shut the door. The man's head snapped to look at her. His eyes burned into her skin as she got up and closed the distance between them. "Let me know if I can help you." She forced her standard greeting out. He turned and watched her as she slipped past him and grabbed onto the door. She wrestled against the wind and rain to secure the glass doors before they slammed into something and broke. The arms on them should have pulled them closed, but the rage of the storm was too strong. How both of them blew open outwards against the storm was unfathomable.

Anna turned back to her wet guest to find his intense green eyes studying her. She couldn't help but feel that he was assessing her worthiness. Sure she had a few extra pounds on her and her mousy brown hair was a little frizzy from the humidity in the air, but she pulled herself up to her full height of 5' 4" and met his stare. He may be breathtakingly beautify, but she was not about to let him cowl her. He nodded his head slightly before turning his attention back to the room behind him. The stale air that had started to burn in Anna's lung slipped from her in relief. She shook herself back to reality and headed over to the parts counter where a box of stock awaited her attention.

She tried to not pay attention to the dark Adonis as he followed her across the store. Maybe he just wanted to look at the remote control cars stacked on the shelves in front of the maintenance counter. Her heart dropped as he stepped up to the counter expectantly. Anna looked up to meet his gaze. She could see the questions burning in him.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked giving him her best helpful smile.

"I have questions." He answered. His voice was deep. Like the rumble of crashing waves on a distant shore. A hint of an accent colored his words and sped Anna's pulse again. Anna pushed her attention to a stack of fliers on the counter and picked them up to straighten trying to calm her heart. There was just something exciting about standing in the dark with this man as the storm pounded the world outside.

"What would you like to know?" Anna asked dragging her eyes back up to the man's handsome face. His eyes bore into her again as if he was trying to process her words. A drop of water fell from a lock of his wet hair and plopped on the counter. It was only then that Anna realized he was leaning over the counter towards her. Her hand slipped to the shelves hidden below and pulled up a roll of paper towels. She pulled off several and held them out to her guest with the smile she wore when dealing with customers. It was always easier to deal with uncomfortable situations when she hid behind that helpful smile. Her actions caused the man to stand up straight up again. Confusion crossed his face.

"For your hair." Anna held the towels out a little further. He considered the offering for a moment before taking the towels and rubbing them over his wet locks.

"Thank you." His words were soft but they still rumbled across Anna's skin raising goose bumps. Anna shivered a little from the feeling and tried to be as professional as she could.

"So what would you like to know?" She forced the situation back to the questions he had. The man pulled the dampened paper from his head and crumpled it in his hands before looking back up at Anna.

"Why are you here?" Taken back by the question, Anna just stared at him.

"Because it's my job." His hands crushed the paper towels tighter as he took in her answer.

"But, why here?" He asked. His voice carried some emotion that Anna did not understand. "You could do anything in the world, why this." Anna raised an eyebrow considering his question.

"I enjoy my job." She answered truthfully. Sure she had other options that may pay more, but she loved working in the hobby shop. The people she worked with were great. She also got to meet the coolest people. The only time she had even considered switching jobs was when the company dropped the insurance policies for part time employees, but the atmosphere made up for the loss. His hand came down over where Anna had clasped her hands together on the counter. Anna's eyes dropped to where his warmth enveloped her.

"You could be so much more." Her eyes snapped back up to his. He was getting much too personal for her comfort. Anna opened her mouth to tell him so, but a feeling rolled over her freezing her in place. A tingling sensation crept up her arm from his hand as he held her eyes with his. Her lungs burned and she breathed faster trying to get enough air. She felt as if his eyes could delve straight into her soul. Somehow she knew that this man could see everything about her. Her deepest secrets were laid out for him in just those few moments.

"So much passion. Betrayal. Loss. Pain, both emotional and physical. How can you stand it?" His words pulled at Anna's heart and she gasped as memories she had put away swirled up in her mind. A childhood with a father that should have never been left alone with any child. The love of her life. The affair she had forgiven him for and how he had been taken from her by a drunk driver just days after they had overcome their troubles. The months of rehabilitation from another accident that had left her near death. Her life had been littered with thorns that had torn at her heart and soul, but somehow she had managed to pull through it able to smile at life.

"You just do." A tear rolled down her cheek unchecked. The man considered her answer for a moment.

"If you could give it all up, would you?" That question struck something deep in Anna's heart. She knew her answer was important. She thought about her life as it was now. Somehow she had found herself in the deep south with a man she really didn't love and a special needs child that took more patience then she knew how to muster. Could she give it up? Anna looked up into the face of this perfect stranger. Somehow she knew is she said yes, he would change her life. She thought about her husband. True, their love had died a while ago, but he was a good man and supported her so she could do what she needed to do. Her thought jumped to the face of her son. Yes, he was a handful, but he was also wonderful. Could she really give up that impish little smile and piles of onion flowers he pulled up from the backyard? Her heart screamed at her and she knew the answer without thinking about it.

"No, I wouldn't." Truth rang out in her voice.

"Why not?" His answer made her pause to think about it again.

"Even after everything I have been through, life is not bad." Anna tried to explain. "It's made me who I am. I could never change that." She shifted her hands to hold his and implored him with her eyes to understand. "No matter how bad life gets, there is always something that can be learned from it. A silver lining to every cloud." His free hand left the crumpled paper towels on the table and joined the one she clutched at. He separated her hands so that he held one in each of his.

"So this world is worth saving?" His words burned through her.

"Of course." Anna followed as he pulled her out from behind the counter.

"Even with the death and corruption so prominent in today's life."

"Death and corruption have always been a part of life, but there is still so much hope out there." The man pulled Anna in against his body as she spoke. It should have been weird, but he felt so warm that she just wanted to lean into him. It was as if he needed a good hug to make it through the next few minutes.

"Show me." He whispered as he leaned in and pressed his lips to Anna's. The kiss started soft, but soon grew into a need that pulled Anna so hard that she could not resist him. His tongue slid across her lips and she parted them to let him in. The taste of sea salt accompanies the heat of his mouth. It was intense, but not unpleasantly so. As he deepened their kiss, feelings rolled through Anna. It was like he pulled her soul out through her mouth and sorted through it looking for the answers he needed. Time seemed to stand still as they held on to one another. He parted from her slowly, lingering to place small kisses on the corners of her mouth before bending her head to rest on his chest above his heart. Her arms had come up around his back during their kiss, and she held on to him trying to clear her mind of the emotions rolling around in her.

"The stars are right, but the time is not nigh." He whispered. Had Anna not been pressed to his chest, she would never have heard him speak. "Thank you." He kissed the crown of her head softly. "I will see you in my dreams." Anna started to ask what he meant but gasped when the very solid form she had been leaning into burst leaving her soaked from head to foot in a spray of water. She stood there in shock as a man's worth of water flooded across the floor. The stranger's voice rolled through the store in a langue Anna did not understand. A langue older then old with too many consonants in it.

Anna sat down hard into the rapidly cooling puddle of water that had been her visitor. She tried to wrap her mind around what just happened, but there was no explanation for it. The water covering her dripped across her lips and she licked at it absent-mindedly. It reminded her of that time she had gone to the coast and swam in the sea. Suddenly the power snapped back on flooding the darkened shop with the over powering glow of florescent lights. Anna closed her eyes and tilted her head forward to relive the pain from the sudden brightness on her dilated eyes.

Once her eyes had readjusted to the brighter light, Anna pushed herself up from the floor. With a heavy heart, she went to find a mop. No one would believe her story and the pool of sea water would only dry into a salty mess she would have to clean up later. It was best to get it up while it was still wet. Anna ran over the whole thing in her mind as she mopped. It didn't seem anymore plausible then the first time. She paused as her eyes caught something lumpy in the water. When she bent to pick it up she found a necklace. A deep green emerald sat in the middle of what looked to be silver tentacles on a silver cord. Anna's mind spun. She remembered something she had once read in an old book. Something about a great being with tentacles sleeping in the depths of the ocean. As she slipped the necklace on, a name popped into her head. The color drained from her face as things fell into place. Dropping the mop, Anna raced over to the gaming section of the store. Her eyes raced along the line of game book. A title grabbed her attention and she janked it out with shaking hands. Flipping the book open, Anna nearly dropped the book when her eyes meet with the indecipherable words. They were the same words that had rolled through the room when her mystery man had disappeared.

This couldn't be true! Anna looked over at the little statues of the Great Old One that the store sold. There was no way that this creature could be real. Wasn't he the brain child of some messed up writer in the 20's? Anna took a closer look at the winged creature with tentacles on his face. The ugly visage was nothing like the gorgeous man that had kissed her. As she read the name from the side of the box, the amulet around her neck grew warm and a low rumble of laughter echoed around the store. A weak laugh slipped out in response as she slipped the book back into it's place. Anna looked over the many games the store offered. There were several with the creature's picture on it. Everything from cute chibis to mind bogglingly terrifying renditions littered the shelves. She snatched up one of the little statues and took it up to the front register. She knew she could never tell anyone about this. They would think she was crazy. But, she was not about to let this day pass without marking it somehow. She was either delusional and dreamed up the most perfect man to kiss her, or she had just saved the world from complete annihilation. Either way, Anna was definitely sure that she would see him again in her dreams.


End file.
